Hello, Being from the Westcoast during the early drag racing history days, we always turned to our favorite racers that were setting the records left and right in all of the classes. It was not just one guy, but there were plenty of racers sponsored by a myriad of cam grinders and suppliers, wanting to boost their businesses by claiming a record or two in the weekly Drag News papers. Garlits was the first to set the 200 mph record in 1964, but the magical 200 mph barrier had already been set 4 years earlier. The record of 181 mph in the quarter mile was a pretty awesome feat. Then in succession, 185, 191, etc. Then we all were waiting for another camp to even go higher, when all of a sudden, the 1960 Drag News weekly paper boasts a record setting news that was literally unheard of before in drag racing history. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-greek-today.1226039/page-2#post-14024264 “The fans in the stands who witnessed the Greek's performance at Alton, Illinois, on April 24, 1960, were delirious. On his second run of the day, Karamesines tripped the finish line timers in 8.87 seconds—an expected clocking. But the time it took for the Chizler to cover the speed trap at the end of the track was anything but ordinary. In fact, it was so out of the ordinary, so brief, that it was off the conversion charts the track used to determine the mph figure. As the crowd waited in silent anticipation, a bit of math yielded the trap speed: 204.54 mph—the first 200-mph time recorded at any dragstrip anywhere, a number that blew the fans out of their seats, and a number that's still the subject of debate 55 years later.” Hotrod.com Jnaki We were all astounded at reading the speed record for the classes that had all of the big names in drag racing. Then, the stuff hit the fan on all accounts about the validity of the timing, the dragstrip, etc. anything a reporter could come up with to question a resounding speed record. It was the first official recording of a 200 mph run in the drag racing history. “a number that's still the subject of debate 55 years later.” Hotrod.com” But, facts are facts… so, within weeks of Garlits’ 200 mph 1964 era run, the Westcoast racers had a new 200 mph top speed set by none other than Frank Cannon. WDIFL Frank Cannon hazes the tires in Hustler V AA/FD at Lions in 1964... new "zoomies" = 200 MPH for real. WDIFL
Being from Illinois, Chris K. was always the local Big Dog. But I'm not going to get in the middle of a 55 year old discussion. Just love the history.
I just remember that as a High school student it was rather mind blowing that someone could do 200+ in the quarter then. I went to one of the early races at Seattle Pacific / Seattle international Raceways in Kent or now Covington Wa in the early 60s when there was a batch of big name racers there including Garlits and they were running in the high `160's low 170's. We were pretty impressed that anyone could go that fast then.
All milestone records are met with a certain amount of skepticism, but 55 yrs. has to be some kind of record in itself! Great video and a Big Thanks for the post.
Loved the video! Never saw it before! Living in Florida I drive by Don Garlits Musium and always want to stop! Now I'm going to make a trip up there just to check it out! I respect the NEED FOR SPEED the visionaries and there accomplishments!
look up Bill Pitts on youtube, he did a real neat series of videos on the Surfers, 3 guys that campaigned a dragster in the early 60's
The Surfers videos have nothing to do with "The Race to 200". But they are the absolute best series on mid-early drag racing that I've ever seen. (Sure, I'm prejudiced. I was at Smokers. I was at Fontana with the weed on the hood. So what!)
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